


A Convenient Time to Forget

by Secretkemi, Silence_is_Bliss



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Multi, and its not canon compliant, its just wild death shenanigans with your favorite pair of liches, its not true major character death but i tagged it anyway just in case, oh its also gonna get kinda sad and angsty at parts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-11-29
Packaged: 2019-08-11 07:05:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16471025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Secretkemi/pseuds/Secretkemi, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silence_is_Bliss/pseuds/Silence_is_Bliss
Summary: Taako and Barry go to the cave in Phandolin, not expecting to find Lup there. Except, miraculously, they do.An AU where Taako and Barry were able to find Lup before Lucretia erased everyone's memories.





	1. Found

           Barry and Taako were certain they weren’t gonna find anything. Nothing they did ever worked, but it had to eventually. They packed up to go to Wave Echo Cave in the morning. They didn’t tell anyone. There wasn’t a point. They’d likely come back empty handed. Why announce they’d be going on a useless journey?

           They both kept to being pretty quiet, hiding their fear of having to cross another place off the list. Barry finally spoke up, breaking the silence that had been put around them as a barrier, “If she isn’t here, you aren’t gonna give up. Right Taako? We aren’t gonna give up?” His voice had an underlying shake of uncertainty.

           Taako winced at the question, his fingers slowly closing into fists to hide how much he was shaking, “Of course not, my man.”

           Barry searched Taako’s expression, “Right.. Good,” he nodded to himself.

           “You weren’t worried I was gonna abandon her, were you?”

           “No, I just...” He sighed, “It almost feels hopeless. I just have no idea where she could’ve gone, Taako, and I just. We aren’t going on a useless journey, right?” Barry’s voice changed from an underlying shake to a full on quiver, “I don’t want to give up on her, I just. Would she want us to search if she’ll never be found?”

           Taako considered the notion, considered what his sister would think, considered the thought that she would never be found and burst out laughing, “Of course she’d want us to look for her. This is just one big game of hide and seek and I can just see her sitting there, mockingly laughing at us because we still haven’t found her yet. It’s what she was like when we were kids,” Taako shrugged, pulling some lighthearted humor to avoid too much of an emotional conversation, because he was just as scared as Barry was.

           Barry paused and chuckled a little, his shoulders easing a bit, “Yeah I guess.”

           “But… In all seriousness. I don’t care if she doesn’t want us spending our time looking for her. If it were one of us out there, she sure as hell wouldn’t give up on us.”

           Barry nodded, taking a deep breath, “No she wouldn’t.”

           “And she hasn’t even gotten her money back from Greg Fucking Grimaldis, and you know she’s too bitter to die.”

           Barry couldn’t help but laugh, “You’re absolutely right,” He agreed, his laughter slowly divolving into a fond smile.

           “Damn right I am.”

           “Taako?”

           Taako winced, fearing the thought of another question he’d have to brush away with humor. “Yeah?”

           “Thanks.”

           He let out a thankful sigh, “Don’t thank me for something you know Lup would do.”

           “No really though, Taako, thank you.”

           “UUUUGUGHHGHGHGH, fine, you’re welcome or whatever.”

           Barry smiled appreciatively at Taako, accepting the elves less heavy approach to the situation. Things were rough lately. Lup was a vital part of the crew, she added so much, made things so much better. Not that everyone else wasn’t bringing something to the table. Just, with one of them gone. Things felt wrong.

           Barry supposed that it was because they had spent so much time together over the century they had been traveling. Maybe it was just how much he cared about her. No that didn’t seem quite right, everyone wanted her back. Things were so much more tense without her. Everyone had been acting out of the norm since she had left. From Davenport seeming to be more down than he usually is to Lucretia muttering under her breath about something… Barry couldn’t exactly figure out what it was. Some people just wanted their thoughts silent he supposed. Barry’s eyes drifted to Taako once again, trying to see if he was losing his composure at all, or maybe just trying to find something other than the horizon and his map to focus on.

           Taako was chewing adamantly on his lip, his gaze digging deep into the ground, and he looked slightly frazzled. It made sense, but was probably nothing he needed to worry about.

           “We’re almost there. Just a little further,” Barry assured him.

           Taako nodded absently, giving a “Mhm” or an “Alrighty” every now and again as Barry spouted directions from a map. That nerd got to him again. Barry was one of Taako’s closest friends but Taako couldn’t quite crack how someone so short could carry so much worry and anxiety. All of Barry’s moods were contagious. He just always has the same slightly sarcastic demeanor, and when that differs, it catches on. When he’s happy, everyone else is. When he’s worried. Well. Taako’s stomach swirled with anxiety as he chewed on his lip, unknowingly tearing skin from it. He hated facing the big questions. Life should be a game of you do it then you die. But he’s died a dozen times and he’s still doing the whole life thing, and now. His sister’s missing. His best friend. So the whole just do it thing clearly wasn’t working out. So big questions. Think ahead. Is there a possibility that Lup is in this cave? Yes. There is one. In theory, there should be a higher possibility because they had already checked a whole bunch of places. Right? That’s how math worked. Okay, that was easy enough. Hells yeah, next question, what if she is there? Okay, easy: Smack her upside the head for going missing then hug her because she’s back. And if she’s not there? The corner’s of Taako’s mouth tipped down as he struggled to find more skin to pull off of his lip. Was there a point when it was time to stop looking? A million thoughts endlessly contradicting each other suddenly swarmed Taako’s head. Yes, no, yes, no, maybe so?

           Suddenly, he felt a piercing pain in his lip. He flinched, ‘Shit!”

           He huffed under his breath, the pain pulling away him away from his thoughts. The stress must’ve made him bite on his lip just a little too hard.

           “I think we’re here.” Barry muttered.

           “Alright, well, time to try to find some people and ask around.” Taako gazed around the area, already looking for a hint of his sister.

           “That’s the plan.” He agreed.

           Taako watched as Barry walked off. How can one man look that depressed? Maybe it could work to their advantage. People would wanna help him more? Who fucking knows anyway? People are cruel. Taako sighed and turned towards the cave. A simple detect magic spell couldn’t do too much harm. Get a good idea of where he’s heading, where he’s looking. Taako’s fingers curled around the wand in his hand. Why was his hand shaking? Oh, right, the overwhelming fear that it was useless anyway. Taako shuddered at his thoughts, “Fantasy Jesus,” He muttered, “I sound like John,” With that lovely thought, he took a deep breath and held his wand out. Immediately, he felt dumb because any okay arcana check could’ve told him how much magic was surrounding the place. Instead, he wasted a spell slot. He was bombarded with all different types of magic, from divination to evocation. Weak to strong. Old and newly cast. There was so much, he couldn’t even discern where it was all coming from. He hastily dropped the wand, carefully not to pick it up until he knew the spell was done.

           “Well,” He didn’t know why he was speaking out loud. Maybe to fill the silence, “Seems like you to magic the place up,” He sighed, “Are you in there Lup?”

           He paused and waited for something. Anything. An outright response, twin telepathy. Anything. But nothing happened. He sat in silence, his own hopes getting the best of him only to make him more upset than he was before.

           He stared into the silence before clenching his fists and yelling into it, “You’ve got your boyfriend’s stomach in knots, Lulu! The whole crew is worried sick and you haven’t made a fucking peep,” he knew there would be no response, but he still threw his hat down in frustration when no words came, “Back soon? What the fuck kind of promise is that, Lup? What’s your definition of soon because we seem to have some sort of miscommunication here,” He ran his shaking fingers through his hair, “You can’t just abandon us like this. You ‘n me, Lup, we got to the Starblaster together. We became a part of that stupid little family together. 100 YEARS, LUP. We spent 100 years with them. I don’t get it. Why leave now?”

           Taako’s ears twitched as he heard footsteps behind him. He hurriedly collected himself, picked up his hat, and turned towards the sound, “Hey, man what’s up?”

           “Why are you still outside the cave?” Barry wondered.

           “This is defo gonna be a two man job,” He explained, “Lots’a magic in this one. Did you find out anything interesting?”

           “Not really… not enough people to ask I guess.”

           Taako nodded, “Guess we can split up in the cave then, try ‘n find something.”

           “If we were just gonna split up, why didn’t you go ahead of me?”

           Taako shrugged, straightening his hat, “Dunno. Didn’t think of it. Just an idiot, I guess.”

           Barry was about to speak up, but Taako interrupted him before he could ask taako if he was ok. “You got a map of this place right?”

           Barry sighed, quietly giving up on trying to talk to Taako. “Yeah.”

           “Okay, you take the map, go to that vault thingy, then I’ll kinda wander ‘round, cool?”

           Barry nodded, “Alright,” but Taako had already walked off.

           Barry took a deep breath and started into the cave, following his map closely. He had his own wand safe at his side. The whole place was practically breathing magic. He didn’t need his wand to tell him that, but he kept a hold of it just in case. As he kept walking, he noticed his feet kept sticking to the ground. As he kept going deeper into the cave, it only became worse. The worst room he stepped into was the one that he found himself being pulled into initiative by a gelatinous cube.

            Taako scaled the cave, his fingers trailing across the rock. He hummed quietly to himself. There were more skeletons than would be pleasant, but he knew none of them were Lup. When she was a skeleton, she moved around and tried, and often succeeded, to scare Magnus. He was only really sprung to attention when he suddenly heard Barry scream his name somewhere from across the cave.

           “I DON’T HAVE A MAP, BAROLD, WHERE ARE YOU?”

           After a tedious game of follow Barry Bluejeans’ voice and not so great directions, he saw why Barry had been screaming and laughed. He was being completely engulfed in a gelatinous cube. Maybe he shouldn’t have been laughing, but the look on Barry’s face made him laugh even more, “One sec, my man, one sec.”

           The cube looked beyond bloodied, these things always had the worst armor class, giving even Barry a chance at killing one. Taako cast a mediocre spell and was easily able to blow the thing to bits.

           Barry shuttered as he began to pick slime off of his skin.

           “Gross,” Taako muttered, “I’m half tempted to call off this whole thing so you can go take a bath.” He held his nose and wafted his hand, making Barry glare knives at him.

           “Jesus, Bluejeans the Grouch, I was just kidding. Have you found anything notable other than a new slimey home?”

           “Not yet, though I’m getting pretty close to the vault.”

           “Ah yes, the main attraction. I would suggest splitting up again to cover our ground, but I don’t think that Baby Bluejeans here has enough hitpoints for that,” Taako held out his hand, which Barry took to quickly pull himself up.

           Taako shuddered, “Gross, you got Gelatinous Cube leftovers all over me.”

           “Despite your mockery, I think that it probably would be best to stick together. You remember what happened last time right? With the swarm of insects?”

           “It’s called quick thinking and we said we’d never talk about that,” Taako huffed.

           “Correction. You said we’d never talk about that,” Barry smirked, “So let’s be on our way.”

* * *

           It was about an hour in of walking when Barry suddenly stopped and glanced up from his map, “I can feel it, Taako,” they were beginning to draw close to the vault. They were still a couple yards away, but the magic that had been vaguely present was beginning to become bolder and more obvious, no arcana check or spell needed. It was almost overwhelming… no… it was enthralling.

           “No man, I get it, I feel it too,” Taako sighed, pretending not to be as hopeful as he actually was, “Well. once we get there, what’s the plan? Gonna use some good ol magic missile, blow the vault door to pieces?” He was beginning to get eager, he was walking faster, talking louder, breathing heavier. Everything about the magic felt familiar, maybe he was getting his hopes up, maybe she wasn’t in there, but he couldn’t help but feel that this was their lucky adventure. This time she’d be there. And it’s nice to have some hope every now and again, so why the hell not.

           “Unfortunately, that’s not quite how it works...No, I did some research. That won’t do much. It’s lucky we got some Rockseeker blood on our ship,” Barry smirked triumphantly as he pulled a vial of blood from his bag.

           “Holy shit. Where did you get that?”

           “I told Merle I was dying and needed some blood.”

           Taako blinked, resisting the urge to burst into laughter, “Hold up. And that worked?”

           “Yeah,” Barry smiled but soon shook his head with a soft chuckle, “No. It took me pulling a... Well, a you. And complaining about how he was a terrible cleric and never did any healing.”

           “Nice!” Taako held his fist out for a fist bump, but Barry just awkwardly high fived it.

           “Okay then..” Taako muttered as he pulled his hand out of the air.

           Barry handed the vial over to Taako, “Go ahead get that all ready.”

           Taako stared at the vial quizzically, not entirely sure how he was supposed to “get it ready,” so he just opened it.

           Barry took a bag from his shoulders and set it on the ground before looking through some scrolls, “Lemme just make sure I know exactly how to do this,” He stared down at the endless pieces of paper and sighed, the same repetitive thoughts that had plagued him since the beginning, ‘What if she’s not in there, Taako. I know I keep saying this but, I-”

           Taako almost rolled his eyes. Yes he felt bad for Barry, and yes he was afraid, but he could only give so much reassurance. Taako gave some absent responses, mhms and yeahs, as he allowed his eyes to wander around the cave. It was dark, real dark, but Taako hardly noticed with his dark vision. What he did notice with his dark vision though...

           Barry paused his emotional spiel at the sound of glass shattering on the ground. He sprung to his feet and turned towards Taako, who had bolted from where he had been standing seconds ago.

           “TAAKO WHAT THE FUCK-”

           “DARK VISION, BAROLD, IT COMES IN HANDY!”

           Barry started towards the sound of the elf’s voice, “W-WELL WHAT DID YOU SEE?!”  
Barry came to a stop when he reached Taako, who refused to look at him. Instead he had his wand out out, casting the cantrip prestidigitation to cause a small ball of light to form above what both of their eyes were glued to.

           “I saw Lup.”

           In front of them was a skeleton draped in red robes, holding an umbrella close to its body.

           Barry stared, wide-eyed at the skeleton as if he had seen a ghost, “Oh my god.”

           Taako wrapped his hands around his stomach, “Barry,” Taako couldn’t have been prepared. It was his sister, dead, on the floor. He nearly had a heart attack before remembering. Lich. Right. She was a lich. But how was that somehow scarier? Ah, Taako knew why. Because she wasn’t there as a lich either. His knees trembled as his sister failed to appear, “She’s not all ghosty Barold. SHE’S NOT ALL GHOSTY.”

           Barry walked past him, kneeling next to the corpse, “Calm down. The umbra staff must’ve absorbed her,” A shaky smile formed on Barry's face as he slowly stood up and turned towards his adventuring companion, “We found her, Taako.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey yall! It's Max here (secretkemi). Welcome to the first chapter, hope you all enjoyed it! Me and Joy have been working on this for months, and its finally here!! Hopefully you all enjoy it as much as we do! It's my first time trying to format for ao3.... and I must say... Formatting is absolute hell. It was worth it though. Hope you all enjoy the chapter, leave a kudos/comment if you'd like, we would both really appreciate it!! Till next time yall!


	2. Static

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taako and Barry find Lup, and go back to the starblaster. However.. plans don't always go exactly as they're supposed to.  
> Warning, this chapter has some character death in it, but it's ok they get better. It's not really graphic, but just in case, it's near the end, a bit after the stone call!

           The second Taako realized that it was Lup’s umbrella, he had started tearing it away from the grasp of her corpse.

            “Stand back, nerd, things are about to get magical,” He declared as he slammed the umbrella against his knee with as much force as he could manage. And with how long he had been looking for his sister? It was a hell of a lot of force.  
As it snapped, red light overtook the cave. Barry and Taako, though they both had a mountain of words to say, they remained in a complete stunned silence. Nothing could be seen through the blinding red light and the flashes of fire, but the sound of an umbrella dropping to the obsidian and very unmagically rolling across the floor was among the sounds being heard.  
  
           The light faded and standing in front of them was a red-robed skeleton, currently dabbing her way into a dramatic entrance before dramatically stretching, “Being stuck in an umbrella will give you such a crick in the neck!” She exclaimed. She wore a little smirk as she settled into an idle floating pose.

           “So,” She hummed delightedly, “What’s shakin’?”

           Barry stared at her, relieved tears already rolling down his face as he staggered towards her, “You’re okay, Lup,” he marveled as he pressed his hands against the skull that was currently Lup’s face, “I didn’t think you were coming back.”

           Lup stared at him before pulling him into an embrace, “Of course I was going to come back… I just hadn’t quite figured out how yet.”

           Barry nodded, his words jumbled in his throat, challenging his ability to form any coherent sentence other than, “I love you so much, Lup.”

           “Ooooooof about that,” Lup winced, “I’ve been meaning to tell you something. But I’ve been stuck in an umbrella you see. That made it a liiiiittle difficult. You know how it is.”

           Barry paused, looking up at her with shattered hope in his eyes, “What… were you meaning to tell me?”

           “I love you more,” She shrugged.

           Barry stared at her for a moment then laughed softly, “Scientifically, that’s inaccurate because, I love you more therefore it is not possible for you to love me more. Science, Lup. Trust me, I’d know, I’m a scientist.”

           “Well scientifically, I’m right, you’re wrong. I love you more so beat that.”

           “Well-”

           “OH MY GOOOOD” Taako whined, “You sound like high schoolers. God, it’s hurting my ears.”

           “And you sound like a little bitch, but we’re not complaining,” Lup retorted, making Barry laugh, and in turn making her smile.

           “You okay, Taako?” Barry asked through a couple laughs.

           “Yes. Can we go ahead and get back to the starblaster before Lup decides to go missing again and we waste another however long we spent trying to find her?” Taako asked impatiently, resisting the urge to yell or maybe cry or maybe shut down completely.

           Lup frowned, her eyebrows knitting together in subtle anger, “What do you mean?”

           “I mean if you just hadn’t gone after that hell gauntlet you would still be on the ship, just fine.”

           “But dozens of people would’ve died and, odds are, they aren’t all liches that can come back!” Lup defended herself, trying to justify her actions to an angry Taako.

           “Yeah, well, those people aren’t my sister,” Taako huffed defensively, turning on his heel to avoid making eye contact with Barry or Lup, “Where’s the map, Barry?”

           Barry stuttered, “What do you mean?”

           “I mean where’s the map! Give me the map! I want to leave!”

           Barry opened his mouth, glancing between the two twins, ‘Uh- I… Here?”

           But Lup grabbed it before Taako could, “No, we’re doing this. You wanna throw a fit about me “running away”, you can’t just do the same.” she hissed.

           Taako sneered, reaching for the map, “Give me the fucking map. I’m not standing here and giving you the chance to tell me why other people matter more than your family.”

           “OHOHO, YOU WANNA BE LIKE THAT-”

           “Guys-” Barry attempted to intervene, but he quickly stopped when Lup set flames to the map, “Oh.. Uh… that was our only… map…”

           “Lup, what the fuck!” Taako stared at the fire now burning out in her hands, “That was our one way to get out of this cave!”

           Lup released her fist, dropping the ash to the floor of the cave. It hardly made a difference with how much ash was already scattered on the ground, “We have literally gone on a 100 year journey in which we were trying not to be eaten and your problem lies on having to guess your way out of a cave?”

           “I mean.. It’s nice to have a map,” Barry muttered awardly.

           Lup glanced back at him then back at Taako, “So. Cares about other people more than my family? Hm?”

           Taako clenched and unclenched his fists underneath his folded arms, “Yeah, Lup. You had to go off and chase that gauntlet and- and- you’ve been missing forever. You weren’t back soon that’s for sure.”

           Lup glared, “You aren’t making your point, Taako.”

           “You-”

           “I risked myself for my morals. I never risked my family.”

           Taako paused then started up again, slightly less anger in his tone, “Lup, you knew it was practically a suicide mission.”

           Lup nodded, “I did. But I couldn’t live knowing what that relic, what all the relics have done and will do, Taako. How can you have all those deaths on your conscious?”

           “It’s better than the whole universe being devoured.”

           “Pitting the universe against itself? At our hands? How could that possibly be any better?”

           Taako frowned, “We’re alive aren’t we?”

           “I’m not al-”

           “Fuck you. You know what I mean.”

           Barry finally sighed, stepping in, “We can fix it. We can do more research.”

           Lup glanced back at him once again, “But it’s gotten us to weapons of mass destruction.”

           “And it’s not getting us anywhere else if we don’t keep trying,” He pointed out, “It was our philosophy to finding you.”

           Lup frowned, glancing down at the floor and sighing, “Okay. Yeah sure... So I’d really like to grow a body back or whatever. Sooooo think we could do something like that?”

           Barry nodded, “I think we could do something like that.”

           “Alright. let’s get going then?”

           Taako nodded, taking a deep breath before speaking, “Yeah, this place spooks me.”

           “What about the gauntlet,” Barry glanced at Lup. Her eyes were glued to the floor in thought or maybe defeat.

           “I… Hopefully no one will find it in here…”

           Barry nodded, not wanting to question her at all, just wanting to get her back. “Everyone’s gonna be thrilled you’re back, Lup.”

           “Not me,” Taako corrected, even though he had spent so much time looking for her, “I’m pissed.”

           She ignored him and instead started toward the door of the vault, “Let’s get home!” Lup declared.

           “Seconded,” Barry agreed.

           “Yeah, I’m starving,” Taako shrugged.

           “By the way, Barold?” Lup chimed as they started leaving the cave, “Why are you covered in slime?”

           Taako’s mouth extended into a wide grin, but Barry simply winced.  
“It’s, uh, it’s a long story…”

           Taako put his arm on Lup’s shoulder, “Let me tell you all about it.”  
…

           “-And then Davenport just stared it in it’s cold, dead eyes-”

           Lup interrupted Barry’s story, “Sorry to interrupt babe but speaking of the captain we should call him, tell him to let everyone know that the crew’s signature cool fire girl is back.”

           Taako zoned back in, grinning as he prepared his stone of farspeech, “Already on it, Lulu.”

           Taako dialed some numbers into the stone of farspeech, waiting patiently until he heard a frantic voice respond, “T-Taako? Taako are you safe? Are you with Barry-”

           “Oh, hey, Luce. Why do you have Davenport’s stone? Oh well, nevermind the details. Guess who we found!”

           Lup grinned, “What’s up Luce?”

           There's a burst of static from the stone, “Oh, oh gods you found her. Taako, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” she was sobbing as if she had just killed one of their loved ones.

           Barry frowned, “Lucretia, what’s wrong-” He began before she interrupted

           “Where are you? Please tell me you’re all safe,” another choked sob erupted from the stone, “It’ll be okay- just-”

           Taako’s frown became slightly puzzled as he looked around at his surroundings.

           “I’m… “ Safe? Was that the word he was looking for? He couldn’t tell as his mind became enveloped in static. “I’m…. where am I?” He scanned the ares, the frantic cries of someone speaking through a stone of farspeech complimenting the background noise. He saw a man who he couldn’t quite comprehend. Was that because of the static or the tears blurring his vision? Why was he crying? He scurried back upon seeing a red robed lich that was yelling at him, static pouring from its face. He could almost make out his name in what the red robe was screaming. He stumbled back, the stone of farspeech in his hand going sprawling across the ground, someone still crying from the other end and endlessly saying ‘Im sorry’.

           His eyes shot back to the man who is staring into the distance, muttering under his breath until he suddenly fell to his knees.

           “Please kill me! I’m begging please, I can’t forget. We looked so long pl-”

           “Barry-” He heard himself mutter towards the man. The name is unfamiliar on his tongue.  
The red robe began rushing towards him, practically screaming static. Taako pulled at his ears as the sound overlapped everything.

           “Taako- L-Lup,” The man cried out. For a split second, he could remember the name. His- his twin sis- And then the thought left his mind. He sprung to his feet as the redrobe tried to grab him. His eyes scanned furiously, his ears processed everything that was going on. Before he knew it, he was blasting the man begging for death. He couldn’t bear his agony any longer.

           “TAAKO N-” He could once again hear his name within the static of the red robe.

           The man went flying across the ground, stopping once it hit a tree with a sick thud and dropped broken to the forest floor.

           The red robe stopped for a moment, staring at the body, static boiling within its robes.  
Taako stared, his breath heavy and uneven. With a final glance back towards Taako the original red robe flew over to the man, helping the lich that was now freed from its body. He started to slowly back away, then turned and ran away from the two liches and the unfamiliar scene. He thought they might be trying to go after him, but he didn’t look back to check. There was no time now.

           The last thing he heard was static overlapping a withdrawn voice from the stone of farspeech, “I’m so sorry…. I’m so sorry..”

           Wind brushed back through his braid, hairs coming free from it and whipping around in his vision. He was running as fast as his feet could carry him, and with every step his feet and head pounded with pain. No thought could be expended to where he was going, as any idea of the world around him was slipping faster than he could run. The only thing he could possibly think was that he had to get away from the man he had just killed, from the red robe with him that wouldn’t stop speaking his name, from the red robe the man had became.

           Familiar foundations started to come into few. He must’ve reached the outskirts of a town. He started to slow, his head starting to spin from exhaustion. People stared at him as he weaved through the town, looking for anything recognizable. As he slowed down and tried to look around, the miles that he had ran caught up to him. He was panting and the faces in the streets began to group into a feverish blur. He tried to stop his feet but it still felt like he was running. Suddenly he saw a blurred figure pass in front of his eyes a couple times. There was a shout in in his ear. Or maybe it was a whisper. Or both? Can people do both? Whatever, for all he was concerned it was those ghosts. He started running again. Or, he tried anyway. The second he tried to start running again, he passed out, static coating his thoughts as the world went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!! Second chapter is up, hope you all enjoyed it! Thanks for reading the second chapter.  
> Sorry that we're updating a tad bit late, life sort of got in the way. Also sorry that the formatting is a bit weird, HTML is mean and I don't wanna deal with it on a phone.  
> Next update will be in two weeks from now, Wednesday. I'd tell you the exact day but I don't have a calendar, sorry!  
> Edit: if this sends you a second update email, im very sorry, i just went through and reformatted so that it was the same as the last chapter!


	3. A New Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taako wakes up, finding new opportunities laid out in front of him.

           Taako woke up in a bed. It wasn’t even a good one, it was pokey and scratchy and stabbed him in the back. He supposed he should be grateful that he was even in a bed though, it wasn’t often that you got one when living on the road. He searched the area around him with tired eyes, trying to get a look at his surroundings. Or more preferably, trying to see if he could even recognize his surroundings. The room around him looked like a typical room in an inn. A picture hanging over the bed, stretching over the side table. A chair in the corner with an oil lamp granting a steady but dim stream of reading light. On the chair was a man dozing off slightly.

           Taako stayed still for a moment or two. Or many. He didn’t know who the man was or what he would do, and he wasn’t in the situation to trust anyone. With every passing moment, however, the guy did seem to be falling more asleep, going from lightly dozing to snoring. 

           Once it seemed like the guy was fully asleep, Taako sat up dramatically and made loud noises, startling the guy from his chair, looking blearily around before he noticed taako. 

           “Oh!” The man exclaimed groggily, pushing himself off the chair and over to Taako, “You’re awake.”

           Taako watched as the man grabbed a pitcher of water from the side table. He poured a glass, then handed it over to Taako with a small smile, worry hidden underneath. 

           Taako glanced rom the cup to the pitcher, before deciding it was probably safe. He downed the glass in one go, then held it out to the guy for a refill. 

           “Who are you?” Taako croaked in between his third or fourth glass of water.  


           The man glanced over at him and gave a charming smile as he handed the glass over to Taako, “Sazed.”

           He nodded slowly as he raised the glass to his lips, “Taako,” he muttered.

           Taako watched Sazed over the rim of his cup, trying to figure out his motives. Last he could remember was…  running from the cave and then passing out in the streets somewhere. He decides to try and wheedle some information out of him, figure out what was going on. “Well, Sazed, thanks for the help my man. Uh, also, just a quick question for you but, what town are we in? My brain’s, uh, its a bit foggy in the memory department right now, yknow.”   
“It’s Phandolin. You look like you just came from a few days in the forest or something, are you ok? You just passed out right in front of me. Really scared me, I almost thought you died.”

           “Oh, yeah, I’m fine. All good here, I was just…. Y’know, I don't know what I was doing but it must have been one hell of a deal.” He paused for a second, fidgeting with the glass in his hands. “Anyways.. Sorry for passing out and worrying the hell out of you, and thanks for setting me up with the room for a bit, but I should probably be on my way now.”

           “Oh, where are you headed?” Sazed asked cheerfully, “Maybe I could help you get there.”

           Taako opened his mouth to speak, then paused, staring thoughtfully into his cup. Where was he going again? Oh, right. He wasn’t going anywhere. Just away from…. What had he been running away from? It had been…. Hooded figures, right. He shook his head to clear his mind of the static voices and the feel of him killing one of them, then set his cup aside and sighed heavily, forcing as much annoyance in his voice as he could, “Is it important where I’m going, homie? Or are you just tryin to strike up some conversation and some sort of friendship,” He made some vague hand gestures, rolling his eyes as his arms dropped to his sides again.  


           “You have no idea where you’re going do you?”

           Taako shrugged, faking nonchalance. “I’m a free elf, I’m just going where the wind blows.”

           Sazed chuckled, “Then, why don’t’cha stay here? Until you can get your own place, you can stay with me. How does that sound?”

           “I’m not the type to stay in one place.” Taako scoffed, “Especially not for the whole “good samaritan” act you’ve got goin on, hm?” 

           “What?”

           “A pretty elf falls onto your table and you just so happen to be one of the only good people in the world?” Taako scoffed. “I’m not buyin it. I mean, I hardly even know you, my dude.”

           Sazed sighed. “That’s fair. Well… Maybe I could at least help you out in finding a place here?”

           Taako methodically stretched in an attempt to look casual. In an attempt to look like he wasn’t petrified and confused, “Nah, cha’ boy’s been traveling alone his whole life. I’m all good on my own,” The sentence felt foreign on his tongue, like a lie he didn’t know he was telling. 

           “Okay…” He agreed, giving an awkward smile that Taako didn’t entirely trust. “Then let me set you up with some supplies at least?”  
  
Taako hummed, briefly considering the notion. He didn’t need anyone. He was Taako. His name had to have some sort of significance… Did his name have any significance? “I suppose I could accept a couple pots and pans or whatever.”

           With a slightly defeated sigh, Sazed nodded, “Alright.”

           “So, anyway, next question is, do I just hang here until you get supplies gathered because frankly, I’d like to leave about as soon-”

           “What are you running from?” Sazed interrupted bluntly.

           Taako paused. He felt his hands fall awkwardly onto his lap, and he felt his heart begin to run a race, each beat in time with the faint sound of static overlapping his memories. “Oh, just some past ghosts, you know how it is…”

           Sazed blinked, a confused smile on his face. “I… don’t, actually.”

           “Is it not a universal experience?” Taako smirked.

           “Maybe it’s more a majority experience, and I just am one of the ones who haven’t,” He suggested with a laugh. 

           “Fair, fair.”

           “Well, how about you go ahead and spend the night here, and then tomorrow i can get you set up with a couple pots and pans, how does that sound?”

           “I can’t wait that long. I want to leave as soon as possible, and if that isn’t right about now then I can get supplies by myself.” Taako protested as he threw his legs over the side of the the bed, “I can’t afford to wait until you’re ready. I’d prefer to not be attacked by some fucking ghosts in the middle of the night, thanks.”

           Sazed smiled softly, though he was tightly clenching his hands into tight fists in his lap, “Taako,” He interjected as the elf continued to ramble, “I guarantee that no ghosts will haunt you tonight.”

           “You literally cannot guarantee that I will not die at the cold dead hands of some ghosts.”

           “No.. I suppose not, but do the chances of it happening lower if I say that I’ll be right here?”

           “You don’t have to speak to me like some sort of child hiding from the monster under the bed! Plus, again, don’t know you my dude, thats a bit creepy.”

           “Well then, would it make you feel better if we got a cleric in here to bless the room to make sure no ghosts will spook their way into your room?”  
  
Taako glanced over at Sazed and scoffed, “Don’t mock me like that,” He thought for a moment, trying to find a flaw in Sazed’s plan, but the idea of a good night’s sleep, and maybe some food in the morning…. Yes. Yes, getting a cleric to bless the room would do just fine. “Fine, just get a fucking cleric in here.” 

           Sazed’s eyes lit up with relief and a little shock that he finally managed to get Taako to agree on something. “Oh, wonderful! I’ll be able to get someone here in-“

           “I’m kinda hungry, wheres the kitchen here? Since a cleric probably won’t be here for a bit it would probably be the best time to eat something. “ He slowly turned the doorknob, waiting for any protests from Sazed.

           “That doesn’t shock me, you were out for a while. But you’re right, we’ll get you fed while we find someone to bless the room.”

           Taako grinned, pulling his hand away from the doorknob, but pushing his hip against the door just in time to open it, “Lovely!” He clapped his hands as sharply turned out of the room and made his way down the hallway.

           As Taako was almost out of sight, Sazed sneered at the dramatic man strutting down the halls as if he knew where he was going. He hurriedly caught up with Taako, regaining his smile hiding gritted teeth as Taako glanced at him, “It’s this way to the buffet-“

           Sazed’s expression soured slightly as Taako grimaced, “I’m not gonna let people I don’t know cook for me. I’m not gonna give you the chance to poison me.”

           “Taako, I insist, you’ve had a rather troubling ni-“ 

           “Show me to the kitchen, Sazed.”

           Sazed resisted the urge of throw the elf out of the inn. Why couldn’t he just accept what was given to him? First the room then the cleric then the food, “Right this way.”

           Sazed watched as Taako examined the ingredients. For someone who passed out on a table, he sure had a lot of standards. He’d shove aside ingredients and mutter under his breath about how they were inadequate. Sazed watched as potential meals were thrown aside. As he was about to speak, Taako suddenly chimed up, “I could make 30 clove garlic chicken!”

           Sazed flinched, “That’s quite a lot of garlic.”  
  
“Right!” 

           Sazed went to say more, but Taako promptly shushed him, “I need utter silence.”

           He sighed and watched the elf cook, but before he knew it he was taken away by Taako’s skills. It was magical how he went about cooking, doing everything with ease and grace. It’s like he belonged there.

           It was easily the best he had seen Taako all night. Taako spoke under his breath, though Sazed didn’t know if it was directed towards him or not as he was far too deep in thought to process the words that Taako was saying.

            _This is nothing short of hypnotizing,_ He thought to himself, his eyes still following the movements Taako made, _People are always looking for a new show. A new attraction to involve themselves in. And cooking? Rather practical too. This act could be a quick monetary success._ He considered the state of the inn, the fewer and fewer people showing up. A monetary success was exactly what he needed.  
  
As Sazed watched Taako, he watched the showmanship of the elf, listening to the way he muttered the instructions under his breath as if he was sharing them with someone else. The basic foundations for a show were already there, if he just spoke louder and and turned more towards the audience… 

           “Hey Taako, what steps are involved in this?” Sazed spoke with a casual tone, watching as Taako startled slightly at his voice, looking next to him as if he expected the voice to come from there.

           Taako turned fully to Sazed and smiled slightly, before going into a more in depth explanation of how he was preparing the meal. As his explanation got louder his motions became more exaggerated, and Sazed got lost in watching Taako cook, only flinching back when a loud crash reverberated through the room, as Taako stared down at the bowl he had just dropped next to him with a confused look on his face.

           “Shit, Taako, are you okay? What happened?”

           “Slip of the hand my dude, nothing to worry about.” Taako lied smoothly, morphing his expression into a casual smile and sweeping the shattered pottery up with a mage hand. “Good thing that was only the garnish and not the main meal, that would have been a fucking travesty.” As quickly as the accident had occurred Taako had cleaned it up and was already continuing with his impromptu show. 

           Sazed quietly noted how he quickly pulled himself back from a mistake. Good skill to have for a show, hopefully he wouldn’t make any mistakes in the first place.

           The meal was quickly done, and Taako dished up two plates of it, setting one down in front of Sazed as he sat across from him. 

           “There you go, 30 clove garlic chicken, enjoy my man.” 

           Silence settled over the table as the two ate, Sazed quietly planning how to propose the idea of a show to Taako. He spoke up, speaking slowly as he introduced the idea to Taako. “Hey, Taako? Your cooking in there was absolutely amazing, your showmanship was great. You have a really nice stage presence, y'know?”

           Taako scoffed. “Uh, yeah, course I do, my man. When you’ve lived as long as I have you pick up some stuff. ‘Sides, me n’.... I had to make a living off my performing back in the day.”  
  
           Sazed frowned, catching Taakos slip. “You and who?”  
             
“Me n’ my pans. Always felt lonely on the roads, gotta make your own company.” Taako joked, hiding his unease of thinking about it. 

           “Oh. anyway... I was thinking. A lot of people would love to watch your cooking, and would probably pay a hell of a lot to see it too.”

           “Mhm?” Taako made an uncommitted noise, keeping his eyes on his plate as Sazed spoke, “How much would you say they would probably pay?” The idea of money was enticing, though he wouldn’t say it out loud yet.

           “Ten gold. At least. Your cooking is phenomenal, and if you offered samples at the end, I bet even more people would show. You’d be an instant star, Taako.” Sazed leaned forward, a gleam in his eyes. “Together, we could travel all over Faerun, and run the greatest cooking show this place has ever seen. What do you say, Taako? You want to become famous? This is a fantastic opportunity I’m offering, you would miss out sorely if you turned it down.”  
  
           Taako looked up from his plate, amusement on his face. “Oh really? How would we travel around buddy? It takes space to run a show, especially a cooking one. Can’t just carry around all my cooking supplies that would end very fucking poorly.”

           Sazed carried on, determined to convince taako. “We could do it in a traveling stagecoach, the audience could watch from the outside as you make it inside. I could take out a small loan to buy the coach, and we could easily pay it off with the first few shows if we advertise well enough. People would be hooked, Taako, they would come all over to watch you. Doesn’t that sound amazing?” He pushed, trying to fully convince Taako.   
  
           Taako seemed to debate it, tilting his head from side to side as he thought it over. “How do I know you won’t just ditch me at the closest opportunity and steal the show for yourself?”

           Sazed has a short burst of laughter, shaking his head slowly. “Me? Star in a cooking show? That would be a disaster, I have no cooking talent at all.” 

           “Hm, fair. Besides, even if you could cook it wouldn't hold a candle to mine.” Taako proudly boasted, smirking as he says it. 

           Though the boasts annoyed Sazed beyond his wits, he grinned at the confidence, “Exactly. And if I was lucky, maybe I could pick a few things up myself. You are a great chef after all,” He mused, putting as much charm in his voice as he could manage.

           “What can I say, my man?”  
  
“You can say yes to my offer, Taako,” Sazed chuckled softly, “You can make your name significant. You can be known _everywhere_ , Taako.”  
  


           “You’ve convinced me. I’m in.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey yall! Sorry this update is a tiny bit late! Anyway, hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone!! Thanks for reading this fic, we really appreciate it!! Both of us have worked super hard on it, so if you leave a comment or kudo this know that at least Max is crying. Also, come scream with us about this fic and TAZ over on our tumblrs, @joyfullyinsane and @arealdeamon!


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